


The ConScripts (of Cold Oak)

by AuntG



Series: Chuck it [14]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Books: Supernatural Series - Carver Edlund, Canon-Typical Violence, Harvelle's Roadhouse (Supernatural), Season/Series 02, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23424865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuntG/pseuds/AuntG
Summary: This is season two with changes made by time travel shenanigans, for example, the Big Bad is not Azazel. But for all the things that changed, some will always stay the same.
Series: Chuck it [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1513316
Comments: 17
Kudos: 61





	1. Ellen

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to stick with the writing theme on the title, thus Con Scripts.
> 
> I will add tags as I update.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place during "Everybody Loves a Clown" and is an immediate follow up of my story "Gabriel, Angel of Monday."

A couple of weeks had passed since Dad had died and Sam and Dean had gone to Bobby's. Sam had holed himself up with a bunch of books and Dean… Dean spent all of his time working on fixing Baby.

Sam had even tried getting Adam to talk to Dean, but Dean just got quieter the moment he found out that Dad actually showed up to Adam's birthdays and baseball games. 

Then there was the mystery hand print that must have appeared on Dean's arm around the time when he woke up from his coma. Dean refused to talk about it and Sam hadn't been able to find anything about creatures with healing abilities. 

"Bobby?" Sam said as he tried to make sense of a book containing cuniform passages and translations of the passages that sometimes seemed inaccurate.

"Is there any chance that the Yellow eyed demon honored the deal he made with--"

"No," Bobby said, cutting him off. 

"Demons don't work that way. Idjit." was Bobby's fond response as he flipped through a book written in ancient Greek.

"But they made a deal." Sam said as he pulled out a photo he secretly took of Dean's handprint.

"Yes, but that Handprint looks nothing like Demon magic. I think it might be a different kind of planar being."

Then Bobby made the helpful suggestion that an entity that could heal like that had to have either been invisible, on another plane of existence, or be able to heal people from a distance. For a while Bobby helped Sam in his research, but eventually Bobby suggested contacting a medium to see whether it was some sort of spirit. Sam also considered that the series of books that C.J. had might have something on both the new demon and the mystery healer. 

All of these things would have to wait until after he talked to Dean.

*****

Sam went outside to the junkyard and found Dean was barely visible; just his legs were sticking out from under Baby. 

"How's the car coming along?" asked Sam.

"Slow."

"Yeah? Need any help?"

Sam heard something make a loud clinking sound and realized that Dean had probably dropped a wrench or something.

"What, you under a hood? I'll pass."

"Need anything else, then?"

"Stop it, Sam." Dean said as he got up from under the car.

"Stop what?" Sam replied, trying to look innocent.

"Stop asking if I need anything, stop asking if I'm okay. I'm okay. Really. I promise." Dean replied with frustration.

"All right, Dean, it's just... We've been at Bobby's for over a week now and you haven't brought up Dad once." Sam said as he tried what he knew was a long shot to get it through to Dean that burying emotions was unhealthy… even if it _was_ the Winchester way.

"You know what? You're right. Come here. I'm gonna lay my head gently on your shoulder. Maybe we can cry, hug, and maybe even slow dance."

Ok, so now Dean was just being an ass.

"Don't patronize me, Dean, Dad is dead. The Colt has bullets but who knows if it will even kill this new demon who is picking up where the other left off, and you're acting like nothing happened."

"What do you want me to say?" Dean said annoyed.

"Say something, all right? Hell, say anything! Aren't you angry? Don't you want revenge? But all you do is sit out here all day long buried underneath this damn car." Sam said fuming.

Dean got quiet.

"Revenge, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Sounds good. You got any leads on where the new demon is? Making heads or tails of any of Dad's research? Because I sure ain't. But you know, if we do finally find it - oh. No, wait, like you said. The Colt might not work and we know nothing about this new demon. I'm sure you've figured out a way to find it. We've got nothing, Sam. Nothing, okay? So you know what the only thing I can do is? I can work on the car." Dean said as he lowered himself back down to look at the car.

Sam gave a tiny secretive smile.

"Well, we've got something, all right?" he said as he pulled out one of Dad's burner phones.

"It's what I came by here to tell you. This is one of dad's old phones. Took me a while, but I cracked his voicemail code. Listen to this." Sam handed the phone to Dean. Dean looked at it dubiously and stood back up.

 _"John, it's Ellen.* Again. Look, don't be stubborn, you know I can help you. Call me."_ a woman's voice said on the phone.

"That message is four months old." Sam told him.

"Dad saved that chick's message for four months?"

"Yeah."

"Wait, isn't Ellen the name of that woman who came to the funeral?"

"She's Jo's mom. I ran a trace on her phone number and I got an address… Dean, we should call Adam--get him in on this." Sam said excitedly.

"Sam, this isn't a place for--"

"He knows her daughter."

_That doesn't mean she likes him.**_ Dean thought.

"Okay." Dean said.

"Okay?" Sam repeated.

"I guess we'll pick him up after school." Dean said, grinning.

_This should be fun._

*****

Tuesday, August 15th 2006

Other than getting the fun side of a rifle pointed at him, Dean thought it went pretty well. Thankfully, that was when Jo walked through the door.

"Mom, it's Sam and Dean!"

"Are you John Winchester's boys?"

"Yeah." said Sam.

Dean nodded. 

"I'm so sorry." Ellen replied, as she redirected her rifle to Adam. He gulped audibly. Then, she sighed and lowered the weapon.

"It's okay. We're all right." Dean said.

"Really? I know how close you and your dad were. Even _that_ boy got fishing trips."

"Really, lady, we're fine." Dean groused.

" _Anytime_ , you said." Adam pouted at Jo.

 _Sorry_ she mouthed.

"So look, if you can help, we could use all the help we can get." Sam said.

"Yeah. You called our dad, said you could help. Help with what?" Dean said.

"Well, the demon, of course. At the time, I'd heard he was closing in on it. And now there's another one, right?"

"What, was there an article in the Demon Hunters Quarterly that I missed? I mean, okay, you're Jo's mom, but how do you know about all this?" Dean said, frustrated.

"Hey, I just run a saloon. But hunters have been known to pass through now and again. Including your dad a long time ago. John was like family once."

"Wasn't your dad a hunter?" Adam asked Jo.

"His name was Bill." She answered sadly.

"And, well, _we_ can't help. But Ash will." Ellen added.

"Who's Ash?" Sam asked.

"Ash!"

Ash turned out to be the man they saw as they came in that was passed out on a table. After Ellen shouted, he jerked awake and flung himself upright.

"What? It closin' time?" He asked blearily.

*That's Ash?" Sam asked in the prissy unimpressed tone that always accompanied Bitchface #17.

"Mm-hmm. He's a genius." said Jo, having decided to chime in.

"Some genius," said Adam "I bet Celeste could code circles around him."

"Nope." said Ash. Jo gave him a look. "Okay maybe, but she's in Chicago and she doesn't know about hunting."

" _Charlie_." Muttered Jo at Adam.

"Adam's right. He's a Lynyrd Skynyrd roadie." Dean said.

"I like you." Ash said, looking at Dean.

"Thanks." Dean answered dryly.

"Just give him a chance." Jo said, sweeping her gaze across the three brothers. She handed Adam a glass of water and he stared adoringly back. Then he blushed and glanced down.

"Her eyes are _up there,_ jailbait." Ellen muttered.

Adam nearly dropped the glass.

Dean drew her attention away when he set down onto the table a brown folder and opened it up.

"All right. This stuff's about a year's worth of our dad's work, so uh, let's see what you make of it." Dean said.

After going through the papers, Ash shook his head.

"Come on. This crap ain't real. There ain't nobody can track a demon like this."

"Well he did." said Adam, while simultaneously Sam said "Our dad could."

"There are non-parametrics, statistical overviews, prospects and correlations, I mean.. damn! They're signs. Omens. Uh, if you can track 'em, you can track where this demon was. His friend is gonna leave similar signs. You know, like crop failures, electrical storms... You ever been struck by lightning? It ain't fun."

"Can you track it or not?" Sam said dubiously.

"Yeah, with this, I think so. But it's gonna take time, uh, give me... fifty one hours."

"I bet Celeste could do it in forty-five." Adam remarked.

"I'll make it forty if you can convince Celeste to visit." Ash amended.

"Hey man, dig the haircut." Dean said as he got up to leave.

Ash smiled.

"All business up front, party in the back."

Sam got up too, but then spotted something behind the bar.

"Hey, Ellen, what is that?"

"It's a police scanner. We keep tabs on things, we…"

"No, the, um, the folder."

"Is that a case?" Adam said as he came up to see what Sam was talking about.

"Uh, I was gonna give this to a friend of mine. But take a look, if you want."

Ellen passed over a folder containing a newspaper clipping and some words in red that read:

FAMILY CLAIMS TO WITNESS CLOWN GET MURDERED BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.

MEDFORD, WISC.

"Can I come?" Adam asked.

"No." Ellen replied as Dean opened his mouth.

"You're definitely too young to be hunting. Besides, I bet your mother doesn't even know where you are right now."

Adam looked away.

"I thought so."

*****

The next day Sam and Dean went to Medford, Wisconsin and learned that a clown had disappeared from Cooper Carnival. Unfortunately, as there were no more sightings or killings, and the fact that the creature who attacked the clown was invisible, that was all that they were able to determine. 

Frustrated, they returned to Nebraska on the 17th.

*****

That same day, a phone call or two led to the newly reinvented 'Charlie' to drive to Nebraska from Chicago. 

She swung open the door, strode past the wards with a cheerful "What's up, bitches!" and waved at Ellen and her rifle. She lowered her sunglasses to take a better look.

"Cristo" muttered Ellen, looking a little disappointed when nothing happened. She put the rifle down.

Dean, who had returned from his trip, looked up from where he had been sipping his beer and studying the results of Ash's work on his homemade laptop and snickered.

"You must be Celeste." Sam greeted as he put out his hand to shake.

"I'm Sam, and that's Dean. You already know Ash."

"It's Charlie, now." Celeste said, ignoring the hand and going for a hug instead.

"Right." Sam said, embarrassed.

"I like your shirt." Dean said pointing at a T-shirt with a picture of a full champagne glass with a stream of rising bubbles and the words _So It Goes._

"Ash, where did you learn to do all this?" Sam said, changing the subject as he peered over at the makeshift laptop.

"M.I.T. Before I got bounced for... fighting."

He turned to Celeste and grinned.

She mimed lighting up a bong at them.

Dean winked at her.

"M.I.T.?" Sam asked with surprise.

"Really, Sam?" said Celeste.

"It's a school in Boston." Ash added.

"Okay... Give us a call as soon as you know something?" Dean said.

"Si, si compadre." Ash replied.

Dean took a last sip up his beer and stood up.

"Good meetin' you, Charlie."

Ash picked up Dean's beer and finished it.

"See you later," Dean said "there's something I gotta finish."

*****

When Sam saw Dean next he was working on Baby again.

Sam started to pace.

"You were right." Sam blurted.

"About what?" Dean said from under the car.

"About me and Dad. I'm sorry that the last time I was with him I tried to pick a fight. I'm sorry that I spent most of my life angry at him. I mean, for all I know he died thinking that I hate him. So you're right. What I'm doing right now, it's too little. It's too late." Sam said, his voice a little shaky.

He paused.

"I miss him, man. And I feel guilty as hell. And I'm not all right. Not at all." Sam said as tears fell. "But neither are you. That much I know."

"I'll let you get back to work." Sam said, then he walked back inside to make a phone call, thus failing to witness Dean's destructive fit in the junkyard.

  
  



	2. Mexican Standoff Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First there was a seance, then the boys went on a hunt. Turns out that they aren't the only Hunter's in the area.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on the episode "Bloodlust" but I took a lot of liberties.

**Wednesday, August 23rd 2006**

After talking to Castiel on the phone, Sam sat down and read Carver Edlund's ninth novella titled Home. Mom's ghost was in it and so was Missouri Mosely… that gave him an idea.

Sam went into the junkyard, just as Dean slid out from under the car with a smile and wiping his hands on a rag.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, Sammy."

"Remember Missouri Mosely?"

"The psychic lady from dad's journal."

"She could help us with finding handprint guy."

"Maybe he doesn't want to be found, did you ever think of that?"

" _Dean_ "

"Fine, I'll go, since it seems to mean so much to you."

*****

**Thursday, August 24th 2006**

After the boys called her on the phone, Missouri agreed to meet with then and try to find their unknown friend.

They arrived at Missouri's house and rang the doorbell.

"I'll be right with you."

The brothers let themselves in.

"Boys!" She said as she walked up to give the boys a hug.

"Sit please. I have something to say."

Missouri informed them that she had contacted other spirits but no one knew who Dean's savior was. Missouri then took the boys into a room with a black table to do a seance.

She laid out a black cloth and lit six candles that she placed in holders on the table.

"Take your brother's hand, Dean. Sam put your other hand in mine."

"I need to touch something that our mystery monster touched."

Reluctantly, Dean takes off his shirt revealing the branded handprint.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, boy." Missouri said kindly.

Missouri laid her hand on the brand.

They close their eyes as Missouri begins to chant.

"I invoke, conjure, and command you, appear unto me before this circle.

I invoke, conjure, and command you, appear unto me before this circle.

I invoke, conjure, and command you, appear unto me before this circle."

The sudden crackle of a television on the fritz momentarily draws their attention.

"I invoke, conjure, and command... Castiel? No. Sorry, Castiel, I don't scare easy."

"Castiel" Dean murmurs wondering why it feels so familiar, like deja vu.

"It's whispering to me, warning me to turn back."

Missouri said. "It's telling me… well, you could have led with that."

She stood up, breaking the circle.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"He said that if I continued and succeeded in seeing his true face, that I would go blind, then deaf, and eventually I would explode." 

"You don't believe that crap, do you?"

"Well, he also said that if I give him an hour he would happily choose a human vessel so we could talk without anything overloading and exploding."

The brothers were disappointed, because they had a hunt to get to and would miss seeing Castiel in the flesh.*

*****

The boys drove the Impala up to Red Lodge. The first thing they did was go to the sheriff's office pretending to be reporters. They asked about the murder and then the cow mutilations. When Sam asked if they could be related the sheriff got suspicious and even more so after Sam messed up the name of the magazine. They made a strategic retreat and went to the morgue. There they discovered that the human victims had fangs and had been vampires.

Then Sam and Dean decided to go to a bar to investigate things further…

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Note that Castiel was lying, he already has a flesh vessel, but it's one that they would easily recognize. He has a plan for when she does see 'Castiel'.
> 
> I'm gonna nap, and then I will post part 2.


	3. Mexican Standoff: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on the episode Bloodlust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope people are in character... Sorry it took forever to write.

Thursday, August 24th 2006

Castiel sat in his robe and stared grumpily at his morning coffee. 

Things had not gone the way that Castiel had intended. He had hoped to save John, but John had still died, simply killed by a different demon. He had also hoped to return the Colt to its current owner, but with the brothers having their father's death to avenge and a new demon to hunt he knew that they would be unwilling to part with the gun. He pressed his hands to his temples and groaned. Then the memory came to him, unbidden.

_“I'll be in Nebraska if you need me... I hear there is a nest of vampires in Montana, perhaps after I return the Colt we could 'team up' again.” Castiel said, punctuating with his fingers._

_“We'll see... now get!”_

Perhaps there was something he _could_ do.

*****

As the brothers walk in and approach the bar, a man in a red plaid shirt sitting nearby is not so subtly watching them.

"How's it going?" said Dean to Eli the bartender.

"Living the dream. What can I get for you?"

"Two beers, please." Dean replied.

"So, we're looking for some people." Sam added, getting straight to the point.

"Sure. Hard to be lonely." said the bartender.

At that, they heard a wheezing laugh. They turned to the left and saw an old man on one of the bar stools in a green jacket. He looked vaguely familiar to Dean.

Dean glanced at Sam and saw him frowning in concentration.

"Aren't you Mr. Elkins?" Sam said.

"Yep. And you boys still have _my_ gun."

"I don't want any trouble here…" the bartender interceded.

Elkins waved him off.

"Well I know what you're lookin' for. How about a trade: My gun for a team up."

As the three left the bar to discuss the details in greater privacy, the man in red plaid slipped unnoticed behind them. Gordon had recognized Daniel Elkins as a fellow hunter, but the other two were unknown entities. Gordon had considered introducing himself to the duo. But then the old man got their attention, and he realized that with the old man distracting them he could get more done on his own.

Still, they could lose a problem… He didn't like unknown entities.

*****

As he trailed a brunette man in a grey maintenance uniform to the mill, Castiel knew that the brothers wouldn't recognize him if they saw him now; gone was the tan trenchcoat and suit of C.J. Milton-- in its place were Birkinstocks, grey yoga pants, a wooden bead bracelet, and a light brown long sleeved button down shirt with two buttons undone.

His musings coat him, as Castiel suddenly found himself pinned to the wall.

"Who are you?" snarled the vampire, fangs extended inches from Castiel's throat.

"You have to leave, Conrad. They know that there's a nest here…"

"How do you--" the vampire shouted, then his grip loosened as his fangs retracted.

"…You're warning me?"

Castiel nodded slowly.

"I don't understand. _Why_?"

"You are vampires who do not kill humans, only cattle."

" The beads don't fool _me_. I know what you are. And that doesn't stop your kind."

"Maybe not all of us." Castiel admitted.

"Which is why you need to leave and warn the others at the Barker farm right now."

As the vampire left, Castiel sighed. Finding Conrad before the others had been a small stroke of luck, and it meant that he would not have to go to the farm after all.

He knew that _this_ Sam and Dean might view his actions as a betrayal, but he remembered from the brothers' many stories that killing this group of 'vegetarian vamps' was one of Sam's regrets. Now that would hopefully never come to pass.

He decided to risk flight and quickly returned to the hotel room where he was staying so that he could change clothes. Now he just had to figure out what Gordon Walker was up to.

*****

Conrad knew there was an old payphone around the back of the mill that had probably been there since the eighties. He dug around his pocket for quarters. Hands shaking, he put the coins in the slot and dialed a number.

It rang twice and then he heard a confused female voice say "Hello?"

"Lenore, we've gotten sloppy staying here so long. You've got to get--"

Suddenly, he felt an intense pain in the neck. As his thoughts faded forever he heard someone say in a threatening tone "I'm coming for you next."

*****

Elkins, Sam and Dean came up to the mill where a vamp had been spotted only to find that they were not the first people there. Dean nudged the severed head with a foot.

"Sloppy." muttered Elkins "Bet it was Walker…"

"Well boys, I guess we're the clean-up crew today; grab a shovel."

As they were packing down Earth so that the disturbed soil would look a little less like a fresh grave he felt his arm burn where the Handprint was. He turned around and saw intense blue eyes staring at him.

"C.J.!" Elkins said cheerfully. "Glad you could join us."

"What happened?" C.J. asked in a gravelly voice and with a curious head tilt. Dean chose to ignore the weird sense of deja vu this action caused.

"Some vampire got killed. Idiot hunter that did it didn't clean up after himself. Although anyone could have found it we were the ones that did, so…" Daniel shrugged, gesturing vaguely to the burial site.

Castiel reminded himself to stay calm. He stared at Dean's face until he had reached an inner equilibrium. His attempt to thwart fate had failed, due to either Walker going to the mill sooner than expected or to the vampire choosing to ignore his warning. He would have to go to the 'hippy' farm after all. Dean was staring back, so Castiel turned to look at Sam who was making some kind of strange gesture… the books!

Finally, after three minutes of Elkins going on and on about some asshole named Walker and C.J. spacing out while staring right at Dean--Sam had gotten the grumpy brunette's attention. C.J. started to head back to his car, so Sam followed.

"Sam, where are--"

"I'll be back in a minute. I'll explain later, okay?"

Dean frowned at him, but Sam didn't care. After a lengthy negotiation, he had convinced C.J. to part with the second series of those prophetic books: Sam had decided to tell Dean about them, but he knew that it would be easier to explain if he could just show him the series when he did. He had tried to get the entire series, but was convinced that the first year had little value because it had already happened, and C.J. claimed that things had already changed so much that the third season was likely to be next to worthless.

They arrived at a beige seventies car that Dean would have labeled a pimp mobile and C.J. pulled out a bag.

"Here are the books."

"And all you want is a favor?"

Yes. Later we will go to Lebanon Kansas. I will need your help then."

Sam took the bag and started to leave.

"Sam, there's something you don't know about these vampires…" C.J. said in a subdued tone.

"What's that?"

"According to the books they are innocent."

"Innocent? But they're vampires…" Sam asked.

"Yes, the only 'humans' killed are actually vampires. These vampires have only been drinking the blood of livestock." C.J. said while using finger quotes.

"That's still ruining lives. Farmers can maybe recover the loss of one cow, but not half the herd."

"Yes, I believe some of the best have gotten greedy, but I believe we may be able to deal with this situation without any further loss of sentient life."

"I don't think that Dean would approve of this idea. He would probably prefer hanging out with a hunter with a black and white mindset than hug trees and save the vamps, you know?"

"How would hugging trees help us with this vampire nest?"

"Nevermind." Sam said as he shook his head at his odd friend.

"What do you have in mind?"

*****

Castiel considered the similarities between this Sam and the one he had known. This Sam was younger, and despite his need for revenge, more upbeat and hopeful about the idea that even monsters could be capable of surprising you in a good way… that not every creature was evil, some just did the best that they could to survive despite their hunger. The older Sam knew for a fact that it was true or he wouldn't have tolerated Garth being a werewolf, for example. But all of his time spent in hell had sucked the energy out of Sam, and he was no longer actively advocating for their potential goodness. In effect, he knew--but he had stopped believing.

Castiel had convinced Sam to sneak out of the motel again--and this time Sam made sure that when their search turned up nothing and they returned to the motel, Dean drank enough that he wouldn't wake when Sam left. Sam had initially protested the plan, saying that Dean would want to be in on it--until Cas pointed out that in the book Dean had sided with a narrow minded bloodthirsty hunting zealot named Gordon Walker. 

_"Sounds like Dad 2.0" Sam had said, shaking his head sadly. "We'll do it your way."_

So now Castiel was back in his hippy outfit and Sam was trying on a surprisingly well fitting all natural white cotton long sleeved shirt and deciding between two beaded necklaces. Sam finally chose the longer more tribal looking one, and slipped it over his head so that it dangled next to the Samulet.

"Let's go." Sam said as he stood up.

*****

As soon as the door of the motel shut, Dean's eyes opened. He knew something was up the moment Sam had brought him a beer. After all, ever since he had started drinking Sam had always been the one to try to limit his intake. And now Sam was leaving in the middle of the night. Dean hoped that it was a girl, but doubted it. He went outside and saw that Baby was still there. He would follow the idiotic genius.

*****

Dean followed the pimp mobile to another motel.

There Sammy stepped out and so did the mysterious C.J. Milton. He was starting to think that he was being avoided. Sammy sure seemed to be friends with him and all the Hunter's seemed to know him, but Dean apparently didn't make the cut.

They came out wearing ridiculously hippy outfits. And went back into the pimp mobile.

He followed.

*****

Friday, August 25th 2006

It was early sunrise when Castiel and Sam parked right next to the Barker farm and came out dressed in their 'hippy chic' outfits. For Castiel the outfit was; Birkinstocks, grey yoga pants, a wooden bead bracelet, and a light brown long sleeved button down shirt with two buttons undone. Sam wore a more simple outfit all natural white cotton long sleeved shirt the Samulet, and a longer necklace of beads. Cas remembered, from the brothers' many stories that killing this group of 'vegetarian vamps' was one of Sam's regrets. 

Unarmed, he walked into the barn where the vampire nest was holding a meeting and Sam trailed behind him.

"Do you know where Conrad is right now?"

They all turned to look at the newcomer in surprise. One of the vampires by the door quickly grabbed him by the neck and pulled Castiel towards him. He extended his fangs.

Sam resisted the immature urge to slap his own head. Instead, he felt a head slap from another hand. 

"What are you doing here!" Dean whispered.

He pulled Sam away and towards the car. 

"Dean, C.J. needs my help."

"Yeah, the kind that involves guns and UV bullets, not whatever cumbaya frufru plan you came up with to be nice to the man eating monster."

"Uggggh!" Sam said as he stomped off.

"Stay there if you want but I'm helping without using guns."

*****

"Enough!" said the dulcet voice of their leader.

He turned to their leader, Lenore. She gestured to a red haired vampire and he left the room.

"You have to leave. They know that there's a nest here…"

"You're warning us?"

He nodded.

"He's lying!" snarled the vampire holding his neck.

"That's very peculiar for a hunter."

"You are vampires who do not kill humans, only cattle."

"Why didn't you just take up cattle farming?" Castiel asked with a confused head tilt.

"You could hire humans to do the work during the day, and make a point of never slaughtering cattle until sundown."

"And who would lend us the money for that?" 

"My brother knows magic…"

"So he's a witch?"

"..."

"You are a very peculiar hunter."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I can't reach Conrad on the phone." said the red haired vampire as he walked back in while gripping Sam's neck. "Found another one." The redhead growled.

"Everything C.J. said is true."

" He's already dead." Cas said sorrowfully.

"See! He admits he killed Conrad!" said Snarly.

"No. I tried to get him to leave and he was alive making a phone call to you when I left." Castiel asked.

"You can't trust him!" repeated Snarly the vampire.

Lenore looked at him in exasperation.

"Then we can't trust anyone." She turned to the red head. "Let them go."

"Are you sure?" asked one vamp.

"I'm sure, Eli."Lenore responded.

The men lowered their knives and they were let loose of the ropes. Sam and C.J. left the barn.

"They let us go." Sam said.

"Dean followed us and was worried that something would go wrong. " Sam whispered to C.J.

Dean was outside looking shocked.

"Thank you Dean for your concern." C.J. said in his gravelly voice. Dean stared at him, then he broke eye contact and blushed.

"We still have time to break out the machetes." 

" _Dean_." Sam said.

"Relax it was just a joke. Clearly I'm outvoted."

*****

Lenore thought about all she was going to leave behind as she was packing things into boxes. Then Eli came in and set a red box on the table.

"In the truck, thank you." said Lenore.

"We can't leave like this, Lenore. Listen to me, we need to stay and fight." Eli grumbled.

"They were my friends too, Eli, my family." she said and sighed.

"That's not what I'm talking about. This is self-defense. Kill or be killed. They can't hunt us if they're dead." Eli insisted.

"Killing those three wouldn't solve anything. There's more where they came from. We're out-numbered. This. This is all we can do. Try and reason --" Lenore said as she tried to talk sense into Eli.

"You can't reason with these people. They're going to kill us all anyway. We should at least take a few of them with us."

"I'm not giving up hope. Sam and C.J. proved that they can change. If we can change, and they can change, so can others. Now go into town and gather the others. We leave before sunrise."

*****

Castiel was in his beige pimp mobile and Sam and Dean were in their black Impala named Baby, when a car raced past them going toward the farm.

Castiel called Sam's number.

"Hello? That was Gordon Walker that we just saw." Castiel said.

"Oh, shit." Sam replied.

"Dean, we gotta turn around. Bad news…"

"Just tell him that the guy has a major screw loose, doesn't differentiate between friend from foe."

"Okay, bye."

"Goodbye Sam."

Castiel made a U-turn. Then Cas drove back to the farm again and parked nearby. There he could hear raised voices, Sam and Dean were already inside.Then, he saw someone exit the farm. Lenore was bringing a final box of belongings to her truck and had set it on the flatbed of the truck.

"I haven't been at a ho-down in a barn for a long time, can anyone join?" a voice cut through the night. It came from a black man standing just behind her dressed in a red checkered shirt. He grabbed her and raised a knife stained in blood, then he stabbed her.

"Dead man's blood, bitch."

Castiel runs forward with his angel blade out and tries to stop him. Unfortunately, anger can mess with technique and after the exchange of a few strikes and counter strikes, Castiel gets stabbed.

"You shouldn't have interrupted me, what kind of hunter are you?" asks an enraged Gordon Walker.

Castiel was too busy healing himself to answer.

He put his hand on Lenore and she gasped when she saw the blue glow.

"Great! Another freakishly human looking monster!" 

"I'll kill you too." Gordon menaced.

The door opened, just as Gordon was about to use a machete to decapitate C.J. 

"Stop, or I will shoot you in the back."

"I thought that you were the cool Winchester, Dean. You really gonna shoot another hunter, brother for trash like him?"

"You're _not_ my brother."

"Alright, alright… I'm putting it down."

Then there was the soft clink of a machete on the floor.

Suddenly the door was thrown open.

"Dean--"

Dean glanced at his brother, and Gordon quickly got the machete back in his hand. Dean was quicker and shot Gordon in the back, before he had the chance to swing.

Sam gasped. 

"I had to do it, Sammy. The guy was going to kill your friend."

That friend was now both staring at Dean and revealing a gummy smile. Dean scratched his neck.

*****

They buried him after extracting a promise that the nest is going to move far away.

In the morning they parted ways with Elkins. But before leaving, Sam came up to the old hunter. 

"I was thinking about it and you were right."

"About what, son?"

"This Colt is yours, and now that the demon is dead, I should return it to you."

"Nah, keep it. C.J. promised to make me something better for huntin' vamps."

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the next chapter, I might write a short interquel with Gabriel and...


	4. Interlude; Gabriel's Ecumenical Edit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A psychic and an archangel walk into a bar(n)...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the short chapter I had promised.

After the Winchesters left Missouri's home to go to a vampire hunt, Castiel returned to his body and woke up on the couch. Missouri's summons had been unexpected, as that was not supposed to happen for another two years--and because Castiel was not expecting it, he simply passed out while in mid conversation with his brother.

When he returned to his body, he turned his head to look at Gabriel and rubbed a sore spot on the back of his head with his left hand.

"Why didn't you heal me?"

Gabriel simply shrugged.

"Where did you go?" Gabriel asked.

"I was summoned by the psychic Missouri Moseley and couldn't have come in my current vessel. Fortunately, I was able to convince her to give me a little time… unfortunately, I can't go because I need to leave right now or Sam will become the target of an obsessed hunter."

"Cassie, you're overthinking this. She hasn't seen your human vessel and I _am_ the Trickster..." Gabriel responded with a wink.

"What are you planning?"

*****

Missouri was glad that she had been able to talk the angel Castiel out of meeting in a barn in Illinois and instead into meeting at an abandoned warehouse in Lawrence, Kansas. As it was, she had just finished painting sigils on the wall when the angel arrived munching on a Butterfinger.

*****

"You're not Castiel." declared a forty or fifty something woman standing in the warehouse.

"Am too." the short angel said as he carelessly dropped the empty wrapper on the floor.

"No."

"How can you be so sure? For all you know, my two greatest loves could be humanity and bees, though of course--"

"Who are you? Why are you even here?"

"--who wouldn't love humanity when it produces such fine specimens as green eyes or his brother _tall, dark, and moose-like_." The angel said, finishing with an innocent look.

Missouri glared.

"Alright, alright; You caught me. Cassie had to go run an important errand and he sent me. Well, really I sent myself but that's just a technicality." Gabriel said as he gave her his best innocent grin.

"Tell me why I shouldn't just shoot you* when you still haven't answered my question."

"Missouri is it? Pleased to meet ya, Gabriel--Herald of the Lord." Gabriel announced with a fancy bow.

Missouri rolled her eyes.

"I suppose that would make _Castiel_ an angel too."

"Oh my dad! I do not have to put up with this. You don't believe me, fine. Believe this!" and with those words lightning lit up the barn, casting shadows with a fifteen foot wingspan.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Salt and Shadow  
> Now that Sam has gotten his hands on Series Two of Supernatural, he feels like he has run out of excuses not to tell Dean about the books. Oh well, the Hunt this week is just a simple salt and burn...
> 
> *Missouri was bluffing.


	5. Salt & Shadow Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean finds out about the books and there is a monster straight out of a Rob Zombie song...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's been almost 3 months. I'm so sorry.
> 
> A/N: Chapter title comes from the song Salt and Shadow by Thrice.
> 
> Sentences in italics are excerpts from the book.

Monday night, August 28th 2006

Sam laid down on the extra long twin bed that Bobby had gotten the last time Sam hit a growth spurt and picked up the latest Carver Edlund novella titled " _Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things_ ". He had just reached the second chapter when he paused and looked up, noticing the weirded out look that Dean had been giving him from where he was reclining and reading Vonnegut on the twin bed across the room.

Sam shot him a bitchy look then went back to the book. 

_"Come on, Sam, I'm begging you. This is stupid…"_ Typical Dean, Sam thought with a mental eye roll.

"Hey."

Suddenly, fingers appeared between him and the book.

"Heyyyy…" Dean said as he waved. Sam tried to ignore him, knowing that Dean was just bored.

"Sam." 

"Earth to Sammy…"

_"Well then, enlighten me, Sam." Dean said._

_"It's not about a body, or, or, a casket. It's about her memory, okay?"_

"Wow. Didn't picture _you_ for a big fan of romance novels." Dean said obnoxiously.

Sam put down the book and sighed. He would have to read the rest later. He considered whether he should tell Dean about the books: As he had finally gotten his hands on the second series he was really out of excuses. 

He opened his mouth and then abruptly shut it.

It would go better if he could do a little show and tell. After all, it was just a simple salt and burn…

*****

Tuesday Morning, August 29th, 2006

They had just pulled out of the Biggersons parking lot and were approaching I-29 South when they hit a traffic jam. Sam shrugged and pulled out the book from his bag. 

Dean rolled his eyes and looked out the window towards the overcast sky for a moment before quickly snatching the book from Sam's hands.

"What's--"

"Give it back!"

"Supernatural?" Dean said as he sneered at the picture of two Fabio looking men next to a black car on an empty highway.* Then he turned the book over to read the blurb.

 _"Ever since the death of their mother Sam and Dean have…_ Sam, what _is_ this?" Dean said wide eyed.

Sam turned red. 

"It's… uh…" he said eloquently.

" _Why_ does it have our names?" Dean said slowly.

"Well, you see...Jack.."

"Jack? How long have you known about this?" Dean said gritting his teeth.

"He was reading it. And C.J. said--"

"--the hunter--"

"--that Carver Edlund wrote it, but I can't find him anywhere so I think it's a pen name…"

"Hitchhiking." Dean muttered, still cross.

Sam nodded.

Dean started to flip through the book.

That cover was ridiculous. It looked nothing like him or Sam… even the clothes were wrong, what with Sam not being shirtless and instead wearing a plaid shirt under a grey denim jacket. And Dean has _never_ worn a tanktop in his life.* 

"This is freakin' insane. How's this guy know all this stuff?"

"You got me. But this is just one book in a long series." Sam said as he pointed to his duffel. 

"Everything is in there. _Everything_. Even the racist truck." Sam added with a shudder. He had forced himself to read them when he was looking for clues about yellow eyes and wished that he could forget the scene where Dean was full frontal.

Dean got quiet. Sam took his book back.

"How come we haven't heard of them before?" Dean asked, frowning as traffic started moving again.

Sam winced.

"They're pretty obscure. I mean, almost zero circulation. Uh, The publisher put out a couple dozen…"

"Somebody’s gotta know who he is. And I bet--"

The tires screeched as Dean made an illegal U-turn.

"Dean, I thought that we were going to visit mom's grave."

"Is that what your book says?"

"Well…"

"Then that's what we _shouldn't_ do, Sammy."

...

"Where are we going?" Sam asked a few minutes later.

"I-90"

"Dean, no."

Dean gave Sam a frustrated glance as he turned onto the road.

"Either C.J. _is_ a seer or he knows something or _Jack_ knows something." Dean said, anger creeping into his tone and a determined look on his face.

Sam turned towards Dean.

"You don't even know their address." he pointed out.

"No, but Adam does because he's really good buddies with Jack, right?" Dean said derisively.

"That doesn't mean anything. He's not even in the books!"

Dean glared at the road, pointedly not looking at Sam.

"More proof that C.J. is behind it then."

"Dean…" Sam said, pleading.

"...and anyway it's the last week before school starts. Don't you want to spend quality time with our little bro?"

Sam slumped back into the car seat, defeated.

*****

An hour later they parked in front of the blue and white house.

"If Adam is there when we go see mom's grave, wouldn't that be different enough?"

Sam said as they got out of the car.

"Sam… it's irrational. Going to visit Mom's grave? She doesn't even have a grave -- there, there was no body left after the fire."

"She has a headstone and Adam should get to meet her."

"Yeah, put up by her uncle, a man we've never even met. So you wanna, go pay your respects to a slab of granite put up by a stranger? Come _on_." Dean said just as they reached the front door.

"Dean, that's not the point."

"Well then, enlighten me, Sam." Dean said and knocked.

"It's not about a body, or, or, a casket. It's about her memory, okay?'

"Hmmm."

"And after Dad it just…" Sam said as the door swung open.

"It just feels like the right thing to do."

"Hi guys. What's the right thing to do?" asked Adam.

*****

Adam's eyes grew wide as he listened to Sam speak.

"So... you want to go bury dad's dog tags in your mom's grave? Has the sexton been notified about this--" Adam said as they sat in his living room, wondering why it felt like _he_ was the adult.

"The _what_?" Dean choked out after spraying coke all over the sofa. Gross.

"--or are we gravedigging?" Adam finished, realizing that he already knew the answer.

" _Sex_ ton." Dean said as he waggled an eyebrow. Sam threw a blue accent pillow at him. 

"It's the person in charge of a cemetery, and it's only a _little_ hole." Sam said as he rolled his eyes.

A moue of disappointment appeared on Dean's face.

"Still, it _sounds_ like a job in the porn industry."

Sam turned to Adam.

"So, do you wanna come?"

*****

As Dean drove down highway 218, Sam realized that he had a problem: 

As it turned out, it was _not_ a simple salt and burn, but a type of homicidal monster that they hadn't fought before. Sam had read a little longer and learned that the monster was named Angela, and unless he could convince her ex-boyfriend Matt that the danger was real he would be dead by midnight. To further complicate things, Sam was pretty sure he'd have trouble convincing Dean too because he was bottling up his anger and wasn't in a listening mood.

Sam glanced towards the back seat where Adam was sitting. He looked bored until the music stopped and Sam saw Adam breathe a sigh of relief. It was soon to be followed by a groan when Dean popped out the old Zeppelin I cassette and put in the slightly less old cassette tape of Zeppelin IV.

 _Sorry_ Sam mouthed.

Adam shrugged. 

...

Maybe Adam was the key.

*****

Adam watched as Sam knelt before a gravestone and started digging into the soil with a small knife. Then he pulled out the dog tags he had been wearing and sigh.

"Hey, mom. This is Adam. He's, he's uh…"

"The other kid dad decided to have when you were just a few short years in the ground." Dean retorted.

_Seriously?_

"I didn't have to come, you know." Adam pointed out. Dean was acting like Adam hadn't just lost a dad too.

"Well, anyway" Sam said, obviously changing the subject "I think, um .... I think Dad would have wanted you to have these." As he spoke, Sam held up the dogtags. And then Sam dropped them in the hole and covered it up.

Adam looked back at where Dean was standing thirty feet away. He was staring at an ugly-ass tree. Dean walked over to the tree and knocked on the wood.

"Dean?" Adam said as he walked up to him.

Ignoring him, Dean crouched down and touched a dead flower.

"I'm gonna go chat with the groundskeeper." Dean muttered quietly as he walked off.

"Sexton."

"Groundskeeper!" Dean sing-songed.

Adam shrugged and walked back to where Sam still knelt, talking quietly.

"What was that about?"

"Eh. Dean's weird?"

*****

When Dean returned, he was holding a card.

"Angela Mason."

Sam felt himself go still. Maybe he wouldn't need Adam's help.

"Where'd you hear that name?" Sam said casually.

"She was a student at the local college; funeral was three days ago."

"And?"

"And? Adam saw her grave." Dean replied. "Everything dead around it, in a perfect circle?"

Adam wriggled uncomfortably at being put on the spot.

"You don't think that's a little weird?" Dean said, addressing them both.

"Maybe the groundskeeper went a little agro with the pesticide." Sam pointed out.

"No, I asked him, I asked him. No pesticide, no chemicals. Nobody can explain it." Dean explained.

"Okay, so what are you thinking?" Sam asked.

"I dunno. Unholy ground, maybe?" Dean said.

"Awesome." Adam said sarcastically as Sam mouthed the word unholy with a question on his face.

"Just tell me it's not ghouls." Adam added when Dean gave him a look.

"Sorry. _I_ can't do that without a crystal ball or some other witchy shit to see into the future. And Sammy, you know something evil could easily poison the ground, remember the farm outside of Cedar Rapids?"

"Yeah."

"Could be the sign of a demonic presence. Or the, the Angela girl's spirit, if it's powerful enough."

"Yeah. Fine."

"Girl's dad works in town. He's a professor at the school."

"Sweet. _College_ girls." Adam said with a grin, making Dean turn towards him with a matching smile. Sam rolled his eyes.

*****

As Sam and Dean went inside to talk to the Greek Studies professor Dr. Mason, Adam found himself idly gazing at a pair of pretty brunette women juggling law books and gesturing. No, not gesturing… was that ASL? Huh. He was about to walk over and try to surreptitiously take a closer look, when his brothers finally came out of the building.

"Any luck?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, maybe… there was a weird triangle symbol on one of his books that Sam said seemed familiar..." Dean said after a long pause, glancing over at Sam who appeared distracted by the two brunettes. "...and sometimes I like to wear a pink tutu." Dean added with a grin when he realized what Sam was staring at.

"Huh?" Sam contributed.

"Nevermind." Adam said laughing.

Sam frowned as they walked back to the Impala. Suddenly he stopped and grabbed Dean's arm.

"The symbol… Dean, we need to look into the boyfriend."

"Why?"

"It's always the boyfriend…"

After that confusing comment, Sam and Dean had a heated conversation in whispers.

"He said she was crying…"

"Well, yeah. The dead should stay dead..."

"...I dunno, Sam. That seems complicated… we're going to need some black root, some, some scar weed, some candles-- rituals like that take time that… don't have. We gotta slow the dead bitch down first."

Sam said something Adam couldn't hear.

"Are you guys done whispering?" Adam said, irritated.

"Uh. Sammy thinks we're dealing with a revenant--which is like a zombie, but smarter and meaner."

"They're usually brought back from the dead with a thirst for revenge and controlled by a necromancer." Sam added as they started walking again.

"Usually?" Adam asked.

"If there ends up being a body count, then we'll know she slipped her leash." Dean answered as they reached the car and got in.

"And you think she's going to attack people?"

"Maybe… but the compulsion is going to be there."

*****

Sam and Adam went back to the hotel room as Dean did inventory of the herbs he had in Baby's trunk that he would need for the ritual. He entered the hotel room cursing. After a moment Dean explained that he was two herbs short and would need to go out to try to buy them.

Meanwhile, Sam had gone on his laptop after finishing the book and was feeling frustrated. What good did it do to have a book that _said_ how someone was going to die if it left out all the important details like their last name and address. Though as it was, he was limited in the details he could share with Dean as he couldn't talk about it openly in front of Adam anyway. He wished he had read all of the book before talking to the professor. This prophetic stuff made it difficult not to act immediately and recklessly. He felt a renewed sense of urgency to find her before she claimed her first victim, Matt. 

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *https://www.homeofthenutty.com/supernatural/screencaps/displayimage.php?album=78&pid=78268#top_display_media
> 
> A/N: Y'all I am experiencing the worst writer's block because I can't decide whether Matt should live or die… So can we put it to a vote?  
> I don't know how to do poles so just say "yes" you want them to save Matt or "no" you don't in the comments section.  
> Also, let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see...
> 
> A/N: Update August 6: So I kind of misplaced my phone and only just found it again. That means... You get another week to vote if you want. ;-)  
> Next Chapter: Salt and Shadow Part II: Living Dead Girl


	6. Salt and Shadow Part II: Living Dead Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second Half of Salt and Shadow.
> 
> The votes are in ;-)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: This chapter got a little graphic on the violence, but not any worse than what you'd see on TV.

_He felt a renewed sense of urgency to find her before she claimed her first victim, Matt._

Late Evening, Tuesday August 29th, 2006

Matt heard a knock on the door. After a moment of tired grumbling, he got off the couch and answered it. There, in front of him, stood a tall dark haired man in flannel.

"Hi. My car broke down, and I was wondering if I could use the phone?"

"Why didn't you use your ce--"

"Sammy, you said I could use the _bathroom_." a blonde teen said as he barged past both of them, then turned to look at Matt.

"Which way?" he demanded.

"Down the hall. Th-the left." Matt said dumbstruck. As the teen left, he saw part of a gun sticking out from the top of the teen's pants. He heard the door click.

"What the?" Matt exclaimed. He heard a sigh and turned around. 

"He's new." Said the brunette giant that was now carrying a rifle.

"You're in danger." The man named 'Sammy' said.

"Yeah, from you."

"No, smart ass, from the girlfriend you were two-timing."

"You're crazy! She's dead!" Matt said wide eyed.

"Bathroom's clear. Bedroom too." The teen said as he reentered the room.

"I noticed that you didn't deny you were two-timing her."

"That's it! I'm leaving." Matt said as he gesticulated wildly and stomped towards the door. Sammy brought up the gun and pointed it at him.

"Sorry, I can't let you do that."

Matt stopped and raised his hands.

"Isn't that Dean's line?" the blonde kid muttered. Sammy gave him an annoyed look.

"He's not here--and _stop using names."_

Great. Three assholes.

Sammy gestured for him to sit on the couch. The teen stationed himself in front of the door. Several minutes ticked by. Matt got bored. He shouldn't have drunk that two liter bottle of soda. Sam turned on the TV. It was the Travel Guide Channel with a documentary on Niagara Falls. Matt bolted upright.

"I have to pee."

The teen sighed. 

"I'll take him."

*****

With his hands in his pockets, Matt shuffled his feet as they neared the end of the wood panelled hall to the bathroom, causing Adam to tug on his arm slightly. They stopped at the door and Matt entered the cozy little bathroom with the single small window. Adam took a step inside, wrinkling his nose at the basket of unwashed laundry. Matt sighed.

"Do you _have_ to come in? I don't think I can pee with you scowling."

Adam rolled his eyes.

"What do you think I'm going to do?" Matt said with his palm raised upwards. "Set off the fire alarm? You can check my pockets for matches, I promise I'm clean."

"Yeah, whatever." Adam said, but he dutifully searched Matt's pockets. 

Finding nothing, Adam walked out of the bathroom.

"Five minutes!" Adam yelled through the other side of the door.

*****

Abruptly, Adam heard the breaking of glass and a thud.

"You _bitch_!" 

Adam tried the door. It was locked.

"Sam!" Adam called as he backed up as far as he could into the narrow hallway and then slammed at the door with his shoulder, just like in the movies. It didn't budge.

"Ow"

Adam backed up to try again.

"Sam!!" Adam shouted wide eyed as he heard the sound of a scream cut off by a gurgle and series of thumps and snapping sounds.

A large hand stopped Adam's momentum, and then Sam kicked the door open.

Inside the bathroom they saw a small blood trail and Matt's naked twitching legs going through the too-small window.

Sam tried to grab Matt's legs but only got his left foot--and after a sharp tug from Angela--he soon ended up with just a sock.

...

They ran outside but couldn't find her.

"I hope Dean's gotten those ingredients already." Adam said.

"Go to the car and call Dean." Sam muttered, staring intently at the ground.

"What are you looking at?" Adam asked.

"Those are drag marks." Sam said, pointing out faint linear disturbances in the soil.

"How can you even tell in this light?"

"Practice. And the nearby plants that have withered are also a pretty good tell."

"But she was strong enough to yank him out through the window. Couldn't she carry him?" Adam said, confused.

"She could have killed him on the spot, too. I think she wants him to suffer. Dragging him--" Sam cut himself off as Addam shuddered. It was hard to remember sometimes that _most_ teenagers didn't regularly deal with graphic scenes like that. So Sam gently shooed Adam towards the car.

Adam swallowed, nodding, and went to the Impala as Sam continued to follow the trail…

*****

Unfortunately, Sam did lose the trail after Angela was forced to abandon her torture plan (dragging Matt) in favor of chosing the most expediant route and picking him up to go across some rooftops.

That left Sam with no other choice but to reconvene with the others at the graveyard.

*****

Panting and sweaty, Dean, Adam and Sam dug at Angela's gravesite. Finally, Dean stood triumphant on top of the coffin and wiped his dirty hands on his light blue jeans, then gestured towards Sam. 

"Ladies first." Dean said and got out of the hole.

Sam rolled his eyes and glanced at Adam.

"Hold that please." Sam said, handing Adam the flashlight.

Then Sam went into the pit and opened the coffin, which was empty.

"Don't we need a body to burn for your plan to work?" Sam said as he got out of the grave.

"If she was a ghost, there would be. She must have found somewhere else to hole up." Dean replied.

"What's that?" Adam asked as he moved the beam of the flashlight over some symbols.

"I've seen these kinds of symbols before." Dean said, "from when we visited the professor."

"We should pay the TA a visit then." Sam said with a slight shrug.

"You really think it's him?" Dean asked.

"In the book she had a diary and she gushed about how _kind_ he was." Sam quipped, not thinking.

"And I bet there's no address--" Dean started as they walked back to the Impala.

"What book?"

The brothers turned to look at Adam.

"You know what book." Dean said with his arms crossed.

"I really don't." Adam said uneasily.

"The one your _friend_ wrote?" Dean said, unamused.

"Jo wrote a book?" Adam asked, looking even more confused, his steps slowing.

"No, _C.J_." Dean said, his temper flaring.

"Mr. Milton?"

"Adam, we think he's a seer. You didn't know about this?" Sam said softly in a peacemaking tone.

"No." Adam said in a small voice and came to a stop.

"Dean, I believe him." Sam said.

"Mr. Milton wrote a book? Are you sure?" Adam continued.

"Yes." Dean said through his teeth.

"No, actually." Sam replied simultaneously.

"But whoever did seems to know a lot about our lives. It's really invasive." Sam added and opened the door to the Impala.

"I see." Adam turned to look at Dean in the eye."I can see why you'd be upset, but I have nothing to do with this, you gotta believe me."

"Why do you think that it's Mr. Milton?" Adam asked Sam, as he got into the back seat.

Dean huffed and made his way to the driver's seat.

"Because he had the book first." Sam replied as the car started.

*****

At the hotel, Sam used his laptop to find the address of Dr. Mason's TA, a Neil Jacot. Sam ignored Adam and Dean, as both appeared to be sulking. _Honestly, it was like they were related or something._ Sam mused.

Dean got up and started to pace.

"We can't just waste it with a head shot?"

"You watch a lot of Romero flicks don't you." Adam replied.

"You're telling me there's no other lore on how to smoke 'em." Dean said, looking at Sam.

"No, Dean, I'm telling you there's too much. I mean, there's a hundred different legends on the walking dead, but they all have different methods for killing them… But a few said silver might work."

"Silver's a start." Dean said, looking a little happier.

"We need to go, I got the address." Sam said after a moment as he grabbed his jacket.

"Can I borrow the phone? I need to call my mom and tell her I'm staying the night with you guys."

"Yeah, kid." was Dean's gruff reply as he tossed him the burner phone.

As Adam began to dial, Dean slung his arm around the teen's shoulder and led him out of the door.

*****

They broke into Neil's house, which was ordinary, dark and empty. Dean pulled out his gun. There, the brothers saw dead potted plants by the window and the entrance to a basement. Dean nodded.

"Unless it's where he keeps his porn…"

...

Sure enough, when Sam opened the door they found a room with a dark brown couch (or perhaps that was just the dim lighting) and signs of a woman's touch.

"Sure looks like a zombie pen to me." Dean commented.

"Yeah. An empty one. Maybe she hasn't killed Matt yet." Sam said, feeling both hopeful and guilty about losing the trail.

Dean pulled back a loose grate.

"Sure, she decided to take a break and went to rent Beaches instead."

Sam's shoulders slumped.

"Even if he's already dead we gotta find her before she kills again." Sam said.

"Yeah. All right. She, uh, she grabbed Matt because he was cheating, right?" Dean said.

"Yeah."

"Well, it takes two to, you know--" Dean said, stopping himself after glancing at an amused Adam. 

"Her roommate's name is Lindsey. In the book she was really upset about Angela's death."

*****

Lindsey unlocked the door to her apartment and entered. Tiredly, she dropped her keys onto the table and sat down on her red couch. She didn't know why Matt had been avoiding her calls for the last three hours, but she was starting to get worried. Angela's death had really shook him, what if he tried something drastic? They couldn't deny what they felt, but she knew Matt had felt guilty about lying to Angela… She got up, went over to the window and threw open the white sash. She screamed. Across the road, on one of the neighbors roofs was a half naked body, with dislocated joints and covered in bloody wounds.

A noise draws her eye away from the window and towards the front door.

*****

The Winchesters arrive at Angela and Lindsay's apartment to the sound of screaming.

Dean kicked open the door and saw a dark haired beauty in a white flowy dress grabbing a brunette by the hair and holding scissors in her other hand. So, as the raven, Angela, pulled them up to a standing position Dean fired. As she convulsed Angela let go of Lindsay, so Dean fired again--this time in the chest.

Angela screamed, running toward the window, where she tripped over Adam's leg.

Dean caught up to her and shot her several more times with silver bullets. Angela started to writhe on the ground. Lindsay screamed again.

"She's clearly still with it. I say we take her back to her coffin and nail her in like the lore says." Dean said with a serious face.

"I'll talk to Lindsay and explain." Sam murmured, glancing at the freaked out woman.

"How the hell are we going to get Angela back to the cemetery?" Adam whispered.

*****

Adam winced as he heard another thump coming from the trunk.

"Drive slower." Sam said.

"I'm barely going five over." Dean complained.

"If the cops stop us, they're gonna think we kidnapped her for sure." Adam added nervously.

"Whatever." Dean said as he flipped on his turn signal. "See that sign? We're almost there."

The rest of the short drive went quietly, apart from a few random thumps.

...

They grabbed her wriggling tarp covered body and brought it to the gravesite. Dean dropped her into the coffin, the incantation on it now scratched out. They used silver nails to hammer it shut and refilled the hole with dirt. Then they got out the candles and other supplies that Dean had spent hours searching for and did an incantation for good measure.

*****

In the morning, they put the fear of God into Neil and then took Adam home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I know this took longer than the week I'd said. I've been very stressed out lately, which is not really conducive to writing. But I'm glad this episode is done with and now we can move on to the next part, which may or may not be when they meet one of the Cold Oak kids...


	7. Bolt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a hunt. There are pumpkins and introductions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise, this is not the Cold Oak chapter. This is more of a fun little filler chapter that I needed to include for *reasons*. Next time will be the chapter in Guthrie.

Wednesday September 6th, 2006

"Are you sure about this Sammy?" Dean asked as he squished and crunched his way through the large piles of dying vegetation that had once been someone's garden.

"Of course." Sam said, absently pushing strands of his long hair out from his eyes. Dean reminded himself to tease Sammy about it later.

"Momo sounds made up." Dean said as a careless step snapped a rusty trowel.

 _Great, I need a Tetanus shot,_ Dean thought glumly. He looked at Sam who carefully waltzed across the condemned property like a friggin' gazelle.

"He's not, the article said--"

"The one from a college newspaper you found abandoned in a coffee shop?"

Sam rolled his eyes.

Dean took a step. Crunch.

"Don't move, Dean." 

Sam pointed at Dean's foot. There was a large dark green leaf.

"Look at the lobes, the three veins and the hollow stem!"

Dean gave him a confused look.

"That's a pumpkin leaf, we must be close!"

They heard a noise from inside the house.

"Maybe that's him." Sam said excitedly and crept in through the back door.

Dean sighed, and wiped some gunk off his shoe on a convenient loose board. He followed Sam in.

*****

"Did you see that old Lady, ese? She was so scared, I thought she was gonna pee herself!" Raul said laughing.

"Yeah, I'm gonna miss this meatsuit. The Ritalin, the Hard Rock, the violent video games… Hey, I think I hear them coming. Remember what Crowley said." Gerald replied as he pulled out his knife.

*****

As they crept forward, Dean to the left and Sam to the right, Sam was disappointed to see that the noise wasn't caused by the big shaggy pumpkin loving monster he had been following. Instead, it was a couple of Boonville locals.

The teens were thin, and dressed in shabby looking black band t-shirts and jeans with holes in them. The dark haired teen had a grey hoodie on as well. A large bong, a lighter, and several empty baggies made it clear what they had been up to. 

"Hey, man." The teen with the hoodie said as he put up his hands.

"We don't want any trouble." said the blond, fear in his glazed eyes.

Sam put away his knife.

"Sam!"

Sam turned slightly and saw that Dean still had his gun trained on them. The blond took a step closer to the right.

"They're just kids." The boy in the hoodie took a step to the left.

"Just put the--" Sam said as he turned to glare at Dean.

"Cristo." Dean said, and all hell broke loose.

Gerald lunged and put a knife to Sam's throat.

"The Colt or he _dies_." the black eyed teen snarled.

"And no chanting." the dark haired teen snapped.

Dean glanced at Sam. Sam glanced down at the rotting floorboards. 

"No." Dean shot hoodie boy, as Sam stomped down hard and the floorboards gave way under the blond. Sam quickly moved to firmer ground and began to chant. After a few seconds, smoke came out and then Sam heard a sob.

"How did you know?" Sam asked as he helped the boy up, who Sam now realized was about eighteen or nineteen.

"I didn't, but they could have been anything." Dean replied with a shrug. "His shirt said 'Ave Satanas' so I guessed."

The teen who had been quiet suddenly pinched Sam.

"Ow!" 

"So it isn't a dream."The young man said softly. "I'm finally free." he said as they walked out of the building.

"You gotta name, kid." Dean asked

The boy lowered his gaze bashfully.

"I'm Alfie.* The voice, it made me--"

"They're demons." 

" _Dammit_ , Sam." Dean said as he stomped on a small pumpkin.

"He should get a tattoo." Sam said unapologetically as he opened the gate.

"He's too young for a tattoo."

"Obviously, but he can wear a talisman until he's older." Sam said as they walked towards Baby.

"Tattoo?" said the frightened boy.

"Anti-possession." Dean answered.

"I think we have a few talismans in the car." Sam said as he opened the door.

"Cool car!"

Dean beamed.

"You need a ride home, man?"

*****

Later that day Sam and Dean talked about the fact that no part of the day's hunt was in one of the books, even though the books had always included the demon stuff before. They decided to be more proactive on the next hunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Yes, that Alfie. The Weiner hut employee who was Samandriel's vessel.


	8. H.H.Huh?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are being overprotective of Jo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know it's not the Simon Said chapter. I'm still working on that one.  
> *Shrugs* Sometimes the chapters based on episodes are a little harder for me to write.

**H.H. Huh?**

_ Thursday, September 7th 2006 _

"Jesus" Sam muttered, pinching his brow as he read the last sentence of the novel  _ No Exit _ . He sat up on the cheap motel bed and turned so that his long legs now touched the floor.

"Sammy?" Dean asked when he saw the book in Sam's hand with a ghostly man on the cover. "Let me guess: Cowboy vampires? Hot doctors?"

Sam rolled his eyes. 

"It had Jo in it."

"About time." Dean said, and earned himself a glare. "What? Jo knows the trade as well as anyone. The fact that Ellen won't even let her salt a ghost--"

"That's just it Dean. This isn't just a run of the mill ghost--it's H.H. Holmes." Sam said with a concerned frown.

"That's that serial killer you like to talk about, the one with the booby trapped house? Dude was really twisted, you said."

Sam glanced at Dean with surprise then frowned again.

"I have to make a phone call." Sam said.

*****

"Huh." Sam said after getting off the phone. 

"Whaisit?" Dean said as he chomped open mouthed through a large double patty bacon cheeseburger, pickles and ketchup oozing out. Repeated exposure meant that Sam was used to it, but it had never stopped grossing him out.

"According to Ellen, C.J. took care of H.H. Holmes a few days ago."

Dean grunted and continued to chow down on his burger.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

Dean paused, and put down the burger and it's wrapper onto the table next to an extra large soda.

"Are you really surprised? If he wrote the books, then he already knew about H.H. Holmes." Dean said, then sipped his coke.

"At least that means that Jo is  _ safe _ ." Sam stressed, still trying to get Dean to see that C.J. was an okay guy.

"For now. You know that she'll just find something else to hunt." Dean said with a burp. "It's what I'd do."

Dean finished off his burger and as he stood up, he wiped his greasy hands on his pants.

He looked up to see Sam's expectant face.

"Whatever. So I'll send him a fruit basket  _ and _ punch his face."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, a Cas sighting! Maybe now Dean will be less mad?
> 
> Next chapter will have Demons and Jedi Mind Tricks... Should I split it into 2 parts?


	9. R____ Said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of a 2 part chapter based on the episode Simon Said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possible TW: British Cussing in italics
> 
> Sorry for the delay, to make up for it, I'm posting the second half tomorrow.

_Monday, 11th of September, 2006_

"Barthamus, how lovely to see you." said the white-eyed first demon smugly as she sauntered to where Crowley's flunky stood clapped in magical manacles and flanked by two of her most loyally brutish demons.

"What do you want, you _bloody slag_." The british demon snarled as he pulled against the irons with futility.

"You seem worried. Has daddy not been treating you right…" she said as Barthamus's glare faded into a poised, neutral expression "Did you do something to disappoint him?" 

Barthamus's eyes lowered for a fraction of a second before his face returned to neutrality.

"That would explain the pathetic snatch job from the other day."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I did think it was rather sloppy for something Crowley had come up with…" Lilith replied and watched as Barthamus tried the restraints again.

"Do relax, I'm not going to give you to Alistair. He's much too busy giving John Winchester a hero's welcome." Lilith said with a sharp toothy smile.

"But I _do_ want you to deliver a message to your master…"

*****

_Tuesday, 12th of September, 2006_

As the brothers were still trying to get on top of things, they decided that the next place they needed to be was Guthrie, Oklahoma… a day early.

"So Ansem works at the same cafe as his twin, but the writer was too lazy to come up with the name of the place." Sam said as he stepped out of the Impala. 

"Wishing you had asked Ash for help after all? That's okay, we'll just have to check out the pie of every cafe in town." Dean said with a shrug as they started to go across the street.

"I just hope we're in time." Sam murmured, worried because he didn't know if he'd get a vision if things went wrong.

"...and if we see a dark blue 1974 Dodge Tradesman with a Barbarian Queen decal outside, we'll know we're at the right place." Dean was saying cheerfully.

"I have a good feeling about this one." Dean added just as he pushed through the front door of a quaint little cafe.

*****

They struck out in the first three diners that they went to. Sam wondered if wearing the suits had been the right approach.

In the fourth, they were served menus by a pretty blonde waitress with the name tag ' **Cortesse** '. 

Dean immediately turned on the charm. "That's an unusual name. Spanish, right?"

Sam sighed. 

The waitress ignored Dean and turned towards Sam with a smile. "Actually, my name is Ruby, would you like some coffee while you decide on your orders?"

"Sure. May I ask you a question?"

"Ruby, there's a mess on table four. If you're looking for Andy, he hasn't been in for a while." said another blonde as she walked past them with a tray.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked as Ruby walked away. 

Sam quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm Tracy, I own this diner." the blonde said as she came up. "You're debt collectors, right?" she asked.

"Actually we're, we're lawyers, looking for another employee named Weber? Representing his Great Aunt Leta. She passed, God rest her soul, and left him a sizable estate." Dean replied.

"He called in sick. Ruby? Dammit, girl! I'd better not see you taking another cigarette break." Tracy said and walked out of sight with the tray.

A few minutes later, Ruby returned looking chastened.

"My mother called."

"That's okay…" Sam said "I'll have the veggie special; fried okra, fried onions, and corn on the cob."

"What kind of pie do you have?"

*****

"...and that's why I think I should go back and press Ruby for details." Sam said as he paced across the motel room.

"Ruby, huh?" Dean said as he stared intently at the laptop.

"Dean, are you even listening to me?"

Dean pulled out the headphones from his ears. 

"I think _Tracy_ would be the obvious choice--you just want to see Ruby again."

*****

Sam returned to the cafe, his expression shifting to disappointment as he saw that it was empty of everyone except for it's owner. He glanced at the clock on the wall which read 2:21 p.m.

"Would you like to try the daily special? We have steak sandwiches…" she said with a fake bubbly voice as Sam shook his head. 

She deflated. 

"You are a little late for the lunch crowd. Looking for Ruby?" Tracy said knowingly.

"I'm sorry shug. She went home to see her boyfriend."

"You mean she's seeing--" Sam started to say, then stopped to clutch his head as he was hit with a blinding headache. His vision faded…

_...Into the vision of a clock tower, reading 2:21. Nearby a smiling dark skinned late-middle aged man was walking down the sidewalk. His cell phone rang and he picked it up._

"No!" Sam shouted as he slumped into a booth.

"Do I need to call nine one one?" Tracy asked, alarmed. Sam opened his mouth to answer as vision faded again...

_"It's okay, Dennis. It's all gonna be okay." Dr. Jennings said as he pointed a rifle right at the owner of the gunshop._

_"Doc!" The man gasped just before the good doctor fired, hurling Dennis against the wall. The other customers fled in panic._

_"No, no, it's, it's okay. It's okay. It's all gonna be okay." Dr. Jennings said as he turned the gun onto himself._

"I've got to go!" Sam said as he bolted out of the cafe.

*****

Even with the knowledge of the location of the clock tower (because he'd looked it up on mapquest the day before), Sam was several minutes too late. 

He called Dean on the burner and told him what happened.

"... and now I regret leaving the cafe because I think Ruby is with Ansem."

"Lucky bastard." Dean replied.

"..."

"What, she's hot. I just think she's wrong for you, Sam... There's something off about her and dating a creep like him--"

"Dean, she's probably under his thrall."

Dean coughed.

"Anyway, Sammy, you couldn't have--"

"--I just, it's a day early." Sam said, fighting the quaver in his voice. "This _shouldn't_ have happened."

"Butterfly wings, Sam.*"

"..."

"Look, let me work on Tracy. Maybe I can get Ruby's address from her if I tell her I'm worried about you running off like that." Dean replied.

*****

Sam unlocked the door of the hotel room.

"I'm surprised that you're still here." Sam said upon spotting Dean sitting in a chair with his face in his hands.

"Not still. I left to go to the cafe." Dean said, dropping his hands into fists at his sides. Sam observed that Dean also had tensed his shoulders.

"What happened."

"Andy! _Son of a bitch_ compelled me to give him the keys and walk away. He's now joyriding in Baby." Dean said, opening his hands but hunching in on himself.

"We'll get her back, Dean." Sam said as he came up to Dean. 

"His powers don't work on me, remember?" Sam consoled and put his hand on Dean's shoulder. Dean relaxed and sighed unhappily.

"Well, once I came to my senses I decided to do something _I could do_ and went to the hospital, where I charmed a nurse and got access to their birth records. Then I came back to use the laptop." Dean said as he shrugged off Sam's hand and stood up.

"You found their birth mom?" Sam asked as he followed Dean to the door.

"Yup, Holly Beckett. And only one of the gas pumps is near her house." Dean said as he reached for the doorknob.

Sam stopped him.

"Look, Dean maybe I should go by myself. You go back to the cafe. In the book he returned it there, didn't he?" 

Dean glared at Sam, then gave a short nod.

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: swear it's only a temporary pairing.
> 
> *Remember that Ashton Kutcher flick? The Butterfly Effect? It came out in 2004.


	10. Jedi Mind Tricks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conclusion of the Simon Said episode. The word echo is used a few times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, 2 chapters in 2 days. ;-)
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction based on another work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons or events is purely coincidental.
> 
> Am I the only one who thinks Andy's Van is badass?

**R___Said: Part 2, Jedi Mind Tricks**

It was cheerfully sunny but cold at 4 p.m. that day at the Shell across from the Videoland video rental place, when a blonde woman in her early forties with tired light brown eyes opened the door of her black SUV. 

She walked over to the pump and punched some buttons. She pulled out the nozzle. She walked over to her SUV and hit a button to open the gas tank door. She stuck in the nozzle. And then her cell phone rang.

"Don't answer that!" a tall floppy-haired young man called out in a panicked tone as he jogged up to her.

"Why not?" It was weird, but she wasn't afraid of him. There was something wholesome about him that made her think of what a labrador might look like in human form. He pulled out a badge.

"We got an anonymous tip about an explosive in the area. The person on the line claimed that it would go off the next time someone answered their cell."

"I…" she said, clutching her cell to her chest.

"I'm sorry I'll need to take that, it could be the suspect." said special agent Bonham, as he took the phone out of her nerveless fingers.

"Oh God" she whispered, turning pale.

"I need you to be calm, so he won't suspect anything. Can you do that?"

She nodded--and in a daze--removed the nozzle returning it to the gas pump. Then she returned to the car, got in, and turned the ignition. As she started to drive off, she heard the cell phone ring in the young man's hand. She winced and drove faster.

*****

Dean was stuffing his face with something greasy and foil wrapped as he sat in Baby, parked across the street from the tiny little black and white house where Holly Beckett lived. After getting his car back, Dean called Sam and after some discussion they came to the conclusion that even with psychic mental powers it was likely that Ansem was stalking his victims as well to have gotten all the information that he had. If that was the case, then he might go after Holly in her home. So Dean was stuck in a boring stakeout because Ansem hadn't seen his face yet, while Sammy got to have all the fun.

"Ugh. One day I'd love to just sit down and eat something I didn't have to microwave at a mini-mart." Dean muttered as a glob of grease dripped onto his leather jacket.

*****

Sam was on his way back to the cafe to question either Tracy or Ruby, and had just glanced through the window when he felt someone roughly grab his elbow and turn him around. 

"Hey! You think I haven't seen you two? Why are you following me?" Andy yelled with a strange echo.

"Well, we're lawyers*. See, a relative of yours has passed aw-" Sam said calmly.

"Tell the truth!" Andy repeated emphatically.

"That's what I'm--" Sam replied.

"Okay, you know what?" Andy said in a normal annoyed tone, throwing his hands in the air.

"Just leave me alone." he added with a deep echo as he stalked off.

Sam's long legs caught up to him quickly.

"What are you doing? Look, I said leave me alone." Andy repeated in an increasingly annoyed voice. 

Then he added with his deep voice, "All right? Get out of here, just start walking and never stop." 

"Doesn't seem to work on me, Andy." Sam replied.

"What?"

"You can make people do things, can't you? You can tell them what to think." Sam pointed out.

"Look, tha--" Andy said with a fake laugh. "--that's crazy."

"It all started about a year ago, didn't it? After you turned twenty-two. Little stuff at first, and then you got better at controlling it." Sam persisted.

"How do you know all this?" Andy replied with confusion and the beginning of fear.

"Because the same thing happened to me, Andy. My mom died in a fire, too. I have abilities too. You see, we're connected, you and me." Sam said, as he tried to be his most placating.

"You know what? Just, just, just, just get out of here," Andy boomed as he started to freak out "all right?!"

"I get premonitions." Sam said.

Andy stopped.

"Today we saved someone who was going to set herself on fire because she was commanded to."

"I didn't hurt anybody." 

"Yeah, I know." Sam replied calmly.

"You do? Why?"

"My premonitions." Sam lied. He certainly hadn't known better until he read the books.

"Then why are you after me then?"

"Because someone with the same powers as you is killing people… and we think you're connected somehow. Maybe a relative?"

"Then you're screwed. My family is dead… and… I'm adopted. I don't know anyone there."

Sam shrugged.

"We'll figure it out."

They stood awkwardly in silence for a minute.

"So ... death visions."

"Yeah."

"Dude, that sucks. I mean--like--when I got my mind thing? It was like a gift, you know, it was... it was like I won the Lotto."

"But you still live in a van. I don't get it, I mean, you could ...have anything you ever wanted." Sam said.

"I mean, I--I got everything I need."

"So you really don't know the killer… not even one of, like, your co-workers ever act really weird?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

Just then, Sam got a call on his cell.

"Hi Dean... Yeah, I can't... Really? That's interesting... He's with me right now. Hmm. I have a better idea... I'll call you later.**" Sam said, and then hung up.

"Look, I'm going to head to the DMV." he told Andy. "Wanna come?"

*****

"I have an evil twin?" Andy said, as he stared down at the page fresh off the printer. That lady that almost died was his _birth mother_ and he had an evil twin.

"So you do know him."

"You were right, he's a co-worker... Weber shows up one day, eight months ago? Acting like he's my best friend in the world. Kinda weird, like, trying too hard, you know?"

"Do you know when his shift starts?" Sam asked in a serious tone.

Andy glanced at a watch.

"Ten minutes."

"Let's go." Sam said, and they walked out of the DMV and into the dark blue 1974 Dodge Tradesman with the Barbarian Queen decal.

*****

They arrived at the door of the cafe just in time to hear a slap.

"What would Ruby say!"

"Ruby's not here, Tracy." a male voice said. "It's a beautiful night. I think we should go for a ride in my car." the same voice added with a familiar echo.

"Weber." Andy whispered.

Sam nodded grimly.

"We can't let them leave. We'll have to come up with a distraction." he whispered back. As they stepped back into the shadows of the alley, he found himself wondering why Ruby wasn't in the book... 

"I don't want this." they heard Tracy say as she was shoved out the door.

"I don't care." Weber said nastily. "You're going to answer my questions." he added with an echo.

"You and Andy, you guys went together for a while, didn't you? Were you guys ever, like, serious?" Weber said as he got into the driver's seat.

"Um, no." Tracy said as she opened the car door.

"Come on, Trace." Weber commanded "Tell the truth." 

She reached over to buckle her seat belt.

"Stop--" Andy said in his echo voice as he ran out to the car.

"--Get out of the car! Now!" Sam added as he joined them a second later.

She paused.

"Tracy! Come here, come here, come here. It's okay." he said as he opened the door and reached for her hand.

"You really don't want to do this." Weber said with his ominous voice.

Sam responded by punching him and pulling him out of the car, then pointing a gun at his head.

"Andy! I can't! I couldn't control myself." Tracy said, frozen in place. Andy pulled her out of the car.

Sam turned away to grab some duct tape, and Weber glared at Tracy. She pulled away from Andy's embrace and picked up a rock, throwing it at Sam and knocking him out. Weber rolled away and stood up.

"Don't be mad at me, okay? I know, it's, it's all wrong. I didn't mean for this to happen, it's just... Tracy? She's trying to come between us." Weber said, babbling as Tracy opened the trunk.

 _He's insane._ Andy thought.

"How did you do that?"

"Practice, bro. Sometimes you don't need to use your words. If you have to--" Weber said as he pointed to his head "--all you need is this. Sometimes the headache's worth it."

"Why did you try to kill our mother?"

"You know about her?"

"Sam told me at the DMV. And why Dr. Jennings?"

"Are you really... are you really this stupid?"

"What?"

"I mean, you learn you've got a twin…" Andy said as Sam finally started to groan into consciousness. "...you call him up, you go out for a drink, you don't start killing people!"

"I had to, because, because they split us up! They ruined our lives, Andy! We could have been together this whole time. Instead of alone. I couldn't, I couldn't let 'em do that, I couldn't let them get away with that. No."

Tracy came back with a shotgun in her hands pointed at her own chest.

Andy stares at her. 

"We're done here." Weber said, turning to look at his brother with a gloating expression. "Bye-bye." he said in an echoing tone of voice.

The gun went off.

Tracy looked at Andy with a shocked and terrified expression, the rifle still clutched in her hands.

Ansem was dead…

*****

_Wednesday, 13th of September, 2006_

"She won't even look at me." Andy said as he stared into the coffee that Ruby had just poured.

"Tracy?"

Andy nodded.

"Yeah, she's pretty shaken up."

Internally, Sam cringed knowing what was coming.

"No, it's, this is different. It's, uh, I never, I never used my mind thing on her before. Before last night. She's scared of me now."

"Hey, Andy, I hate to do this, but um, we have to get out of here... Here, I wrote down my cell. You don't have to be alone in this, all right? Just be good. If anything comes up, then call me up."

"Are you guys ready for the check?" Ruby said, walking up behind Sam.

"Yeah." Sam said absentmindedly. Dean took it from her hands and signed it. She handed him the copy, and left.

As they exited the cafe, Dean glanced at the paper and let out a laugh. 

Seeing Sam's perplexed expression, Dean slapped the piece of paper onto Sam's chest, smudging it slightly.

"Looks like you got her number _after all._ "

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *In this episode (as in many others) when the brothers are impersonating lawyers, they are wearing suits. It's worth noting thought that this time Sam has on a bright yellow tie with little red diamonds on it. I wonder if he had bought it for that job interview the year before...  
> **Sam is an unreasonable narrator here, pretending that he doesn't know information he got from the book and he is therefore only just learning it during that phone call.  
> Fun Fact: The birth mom is wearing three layers of clothes, a stripped white shirt, a grey diamond pattern vest, black leather gloves and a heavy black wool overcoat.  
> If you're wondering what Sam did with the phone, I'll give you a hint: back then cell phones weren't very well protected against water damage. Oops!
> 
> A/N: Have faith that a certain grumpy angel will become a grumpier angel once Sam spills the beans about the pretty girl he just met.
> 
> Next Chapter: "The Red String of Fate"  
> Dean travels to Minnesota to give a certain Ghostwriter a piece of his mind and Sam bumps into someone familiar while on a hunt with Jo.  
> Would you rather have 1/2 of a chapter now or a whole chapter in a week?


	11. The Red String of Fate, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1.  
> In the timeline, this takes place during the episode "no exit". Only the start of the chapter has any resemblance to that episode. In this chapter, the brothers split up to deal with their own things...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I haven't updated since November. I just kept getting stuck and real life kept getting stressful as well.
> 
> I just realized that September 18th is Castiel's 'Birthday' lol.
> 
> I finally just decided to split the chapter in two. There's a strong possibility that suggestions I get will find their way into the second half of the episode arc so let me know in the comment section if there is anything you want to see.

**The Red String of Fate**

A.k.a. No Exit

_Monday September 18th, 2006_

On Monday, Sam--who was wearing a red on red plaid shirt and a tan jacket, blue jeans, and brown shoes--and Dean decided to stop over at Harvelle's Roadhouse that morning. They had decided to visit the Roadhouse to ask Ash if he had any new information, before heading out to California. 

So they drove up to Ellen's grey-brown wood building that had a grey-brown wood awning doubling as a marquee announcing the drinking establishment's name in large faded letters. 

"We could do that vampire nest in L.A., Dean." Sam said as they pulled up to the dusty parking lot "Maybe stop in Las Vegas."

"Alright! Strippers!" Dean said cheerfully as he popped the collar of his jacket, then tucked the Samulet under his dark green T-shirt.

"Yeah, maybe." Sam said "Let's see what Ash has for us first."

They had just parked Baby by the weathered red and white ice machine when they heard the sound of glass breaking followed by yelling.

"Of course, on the other hand — catfight." Dean said with a grin.

They quickly but cautiously entered the Roadhouse, where on the upper level right by the pool table, Ellen and Jo were busy yelling at each other.

"I am your mother, I don't have to be reasonable!" Ellen said. As fierce as she was, Ellen could easily blend into any group of hunters, she had both the attitude and the wardrobe. Today she was wearing a light cream tank top with a white and dark grey plaid overshirt and brown jeans.

"You can't keep me here!" Jo said while crossing her arms. Dean noticed that Jo, unlike her mother, would stand out. Her light grey jeans could pass, but that cute black top with a scoop neck that had three buttons was just too girly for a hunter's wardrobe.

"Oh, don't you bet on that, sweetie." Ellen said as she angrily stared at her daughter.

"What are you going to do, are you going to chain me up in the basement?"

"You know what, you've had worse ideas than that recently. Hey, you don't wanna stay, don't stay. Go back to school."

"I didn't belong there! I was a freak with a knife collection." Jo said.

And a diary, Dean thought with a smirk. He knew because he'd seen it on a previous visit.

"Yeah, and getting yourself killed on some dusty back road, that's where you belong?!" Ellen shouted as she gripped the railing, her white knuckles a sharp contrast to the dark stain of the wood.

Ellen turned and saw the boys standing just past the door.

"Guys, bad time."

"Yes, ma'am." Sam said with a nod.

"Yeah, we rarely drink before ten anyway." Dean agreed.

"Wait. I wanna know what they think about this." Jo said as she and her mother descended the stairs.

Suddenly, the door opened again and a young family of four carrying cameras and wearing obnoxious yellow T-shirts that read "Nebraska is for Lovers" walked in.

"Well, I don't care what they think!" Ellen shouted, just as the father of the quartet squinted, adjusting to the dim light and looked around the near empty saloon.

"Are you guys open?" he asked.

"No--" Jo replied.

"--Yes!" Ellen said at the same time.

The husband and wife shared a weirded out look.

"We'll just... check out the Arby's down the road." The dad said and they cleared out of the room as fast as a pregnant woman, her husband, and two toddlers possibly could.

The phone rang and Ellen went behind the counter to get it, ignoring her daughter's glare.

"Harvelle's. Yeah, Preacher." Ellen was saying into the phone.

Dean listened as walked over to the door to the backroom, knowing that Dr. Badass was most likely in.

"Hey…" he heard Sam say uncertainly.

"Uh-huh. Sure, I can pass that along to Bobby..." In the distance, Ellen was still talking into the phone.

"Yeah?" Jo replied.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Sam said sheepishly.

"What happened to yours?" Jo asked.

"It got smashed in a fight."

Dean went through the door.

*****

After Dean finished talking to Ash about some demonic omens that were cropping up in Las Vegas he reenetered the room.

"...Ruby sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…" Jo sang.

"--It's just a voicemail!" Sam protested.

Dean started to laugh and then choke as some of his beer went down the wrong way. As he coughed he spilled his beer, soaking his shirt. 

"Dean?" Sam said with concern.

Dean ignored him and angrily stomped off to Baby to grab another shirt and then back into the building to go to the bathroom and change. There he swiftly took off his beer soaked shirt, but paused before putting on the new one.

He'd almost forgotten about the weird handprint mark on his arm. It was one of the things that the books never mentioned and he found himself wondering why. Maybe they could offer to detour and help Ellen out…

*****

Sam and Dean drove up to Bobby's to personally deliver Ellen's message and to hang out for an hour. 

"...so then Jo came up with a plan to meet in Las Vegas tommorow and check out those omens that Ash was talking about."

"You don't think that Ellen is going to figure out that you're on a hunt together?"

"Nah. I made a point of talking loudly about my date with Ruby in L.A. tommorow--"

"L.A.? Oh, right. You said she was staying with a cousin for a few days." Dean said as he parked the 67' impala in front of Bobby's junkyard.

"You know, Ellen is smarter than you give her credit for." Dean said as he got out of the car, then added "I'm going to sit this one out."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked as they knocked on the door.

"It's about time I got some answers out of that ghost writer." Dean said with an determined stare.

"Dea--"

"You idjits here already?" Bobby hollered as he opened the door.

"My boys." Bobby said with a smile on his cantankerous face.

"Hey, Bobby." The boys said in chorus.

*****

After the boys said goodbye to Bobby, they split up.

Sam walked over to the impala.

"Not a scratch, Sammy."

"I promise I'll take good care of her Dean." Sam said solemnly. He was getting to drive Baby because of the two of them, he was the one who was possibly going on a hunt. They had learned to take no chances when it came to demons. Baby had all kinds of protective runes on her that the loaner Dean would be using did not.

Dean slowly walked over to the powder blue car with a dent in the fender. 

There, he watched as Sam drove off until he was out of sight.

Dean got into the car and started the engine.

*****

Since it was already noon, Sam stopped at a Gas N' Sip to stock up for his 15 hour cross country trip to Las Vegas. Sam paid for his slice of pie (he was not missing his brother, shut up) his apple, his salad, his deep battered potato wedges, his burrito, his jerky sticks, and his blue slushie.

Sam thanked the cashier, Steve, and left with his haul.

*****

As Dean spent the next hour driving down I-90, he tried to think of what he would say to the hunter turned seer. 

Or maybe it was seer turned hunter? Whatever. It didn't give him a right to write about their lives. It was just so creepy and stalkery, and now (at least online) Sam and Dean had obsessive fan girls who were really really creepy. There was this one fan, Pointystickimpaladpagangod who kept talking about how he wanted to climb Sam like a redwood and do obscene things with candy… Ew.

He stepped out of the loaner around one p.m. on that windy day and headed towards a blue and white house. He knocked on the door. He waited. He knocked again. Fifteen minutes later he made his way around the back and saw a man in a beekeeping outfit next to a large boxy beehive, which was next to a tall lamp.

When the man started to walk towards him, Dean snapped.

"What gives you the _right_?!?"

"Sorry?" he squeaked.

"You're messing with real people's lives, my life, Sammy's life. People actually read that shit!"

"Are you looking for Mr. Milton?"

"What are--"

The guy took his netted hat thing off. He wasn't C.J. Milton, but instead some blond freckled twerp.

"Hi. My name is Emmanuel Perkins. C.J. lets me work with the bees for extra credit in my class…"

"Yeah kid, I don't care." Dean said with a glare as he grabbed a fistful of netting

"Where. Is. He." 

"Sheesh. Calm down man, he went to see his brother in Springfield."

Dean continued to glare.

"Ohio!" Freckles squeeked again "That's all I know…"

Dean let him go, and the man ran back to the beehive. Dean went back around to the front and picked the lock. He let himself inside and looked around for mail. Finally he found a stack on an end table.

"Ok" Dean muttered as he picked up the stack and started to sort through them "Gabriel, Gabriel…"

"There you are you son of a bitch." Dean said as he got out a pen and wrote down the address.

As Dean walked back out to the car, he made a phone call.

"Hi Bobby…"

Later Dean was to learn how lucky it was that by driving towards Springfield, Ohio he was nowhere near that 10:52 p.m. tornado in southern Minnesota.

*****

8:23 p.m. Chicago, Illinois

Dean realized that he had set off too late in the day to reach Ohio before nightfall so he decided to stop in Chicago at the Melinoe Motel, which had a psychic named Pamela Barnes on its left side and a Biggersons on the right. 

Dean went to the Biggersons, getting the Triple Decker Burger™ with special sauce and extra bacon, fresh cut french fries, and an extra large Pop. 

He wondered idly about the psychic. The name seemed familiar--then he realized that Bobby had mentioned her during the brother's earlier visit.

*****

_Tuesday, September 19th 2006_

In the morning, after getting some pancakes, eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, and coffee Dean continued his five hour drive from Chicago towards Springfield, Ohio.

Dean arrived at the address on the letter and looked around.

The outside was just an innocuous looking brownstone, but who knew what lay within.

He was going to buzz the appropriate apartment when he saw a blonde walk in.

Dean put a hand behind his head as a nervous gesture and blushed.

"Can I help you?" she said.

"Yeah… um… I'm staying with Gabe in 101 for a couple of days and I stepped out for a jog while he was at work but I forgot the keys… but it's okay, I can wait until he gets home." Dean said sheepishly.

"It's really cold out here. I can't get you into the apartment, and my girlfriend would be pissed if I had another hot guy in my apartment, but you can stay inside the building while you wait."

*****

Castiel reached the door of Gabriel's apartment, where he felt around the pocket of his trenchcoat until he heard a jangle and his fingers closed around Gabe's keys. 

Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. 

He turned, and to his surprise he saw a furious looking Dean inches from him.

" _Fuck_ you. What the fuck gives _you_ the right to ruin other people's lives!"

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess Dean got a little worked up...
> 
> Ruby will be around for a few chapters, but I will warn you with two asterisks whenever she appears until her arc is resolved.
> 
> As always, comments make my muse happy, and that makes me write faster.


	12. The Red String of Fate, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2: Dean confronts Cas. Sam is on a road trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Apologies, I didn't cover part of the 18th for Sam in the last chapter. The next two paragraphs cover the lack.
> 
> A/N: Splitting the original chapter for the second time so there are now three chapters and this chapter is Ruby free.

The Red String of Fate Part 2

_Monday September 18th, 2006_

6:18 p.m.

In North Platte Sam stopped at Gas N' Sip where he refuelled Baby then bought a Buffalo Bill postcard for Dean.

He asked the cashier for a restaurant with vegetables on the menu and got directions to a place that sold stuffed sandwiches.

10:59 p.m.

Exhausted after a day of driving, Sam pulled into the Blucifer Motel. He paid $45 for a single room and trudged upstairs to his room where he ignored the paintings of wild horses as he undressed. He turned off the red table lamp and happily fell into a bed with metallic blue sheets losing consciousness within minutes.

_Tuesday, September 19th 2006_

8:30 a.m.

After a breakfast of pancakes and hash browns, Sam called his brother to check in. Then got into the Impala and rolled down to the windows to feel the cool morning wind in his hair as he drove down I-70 West.

*****

_Tuesday, September 19th 2006_

1:03 p.m.

Dean punched him.*

C.J. stared at Dean in confusion. He tilted his head and he touched his sore face sadly. Quietly, he muttered something that sounded like 'assbutt'. It was weirdly endearing. 

"I don't think we should be talking about this in the hallway, Dean." he said in a louder voice, still touching his face with his left hand as he used his right hand to turn the key and open the door.

Dean stormed after him.

C.J. patiently locked the door again.

"Have a seat." he said as he went towards the refrigerator in the kitchenette. "Gabriel should be back in an hour."

Dean looked around noting an open plan area divided by tan silk screens, the green coffee table, the red leather loveseat, the lava lamps, the dish filled with candy, the half eaten birthday cake**, the party hats, the red lace curtains, the speakers, and Japanese art. He rolled his eyes when he looked up and spotted the disco ball. He plopped down on the couch a little too forcefully and it started to vibrate.

Sulking, Dean grabbed a toffee candy and popped it in his mouth. 

"Dean, what are you--" C.J. said as he came back with a bag of frozen berries pressed against his cheek.

"Don't do that man. You know why I'm here."

C.J. stared at him some more.

Dean glared and reminded himself that his job was to stab monsters, not assholes.

"Fine, you wanna be that way? I'll go first. You're a seer man--and I'm sure that sucks--but that doesn't mean you get to make money off our lives."

C.J. let out a quiet "Oh" and sat down on the vibrating loveseat.

"You gotta--"

"Dean, I didn't write those books, Carver Edlund did. I just thought that you'd want to be aware of their existence. How did--" C.J. said as he gestured vaguely towards the room.

"I found a letter. How did you think that I knew to come here?" Dean replied.

"Some time ago" C.J. replied as he set down the frozen bag on the coffee table "I used the internet and did a 'search' to find 'Carver Edlund'. You were correct that it is an alias."

"Dammit, I was hoping you could tell me about the handprint…"

"A handprint?"

"Yeah, it's not in the books, but I got it when I was in that coma."

*****

It was around 1:07 p.m. after spending the last four hours driving down the long desert highway with the speakers blasting Spoon, The Raveonettes, Bikini Kill and other indie rock bands on his Ipod that Sam reached Grand Junction. He decided to stop for lunch after he saw a sign for a Taqueria. 

It was just him, after all--no Dean to make fun of him if he got too gassy.

*****

1:08 p.m.

"That is strange." C.J. eventually remarked in his gravelly voice as he nervously picked up one of the paper hats off the coffee table. 

"Strange." Dean repeated as he gave him an inquisitive look.

"My birthday was yesterday." C.J. replied "There were profane balloons. I made Gabriel re--"

"You're changing the subject."

C.J. sighed.

"You should ask Carver Edlund."

"I know you know something. Why isn't it in the books? Almost everything else is, my whole life for others to read..."

"Dean" C.J. said with large sad eyes.

Suddenly Dean stood up, exasperated.

"I, it's like I don't have any choices… any power over my life!"

"I wish I could help you."

Dean walked back to the front door, opening it and then turned towards C.J.

"Yeah. But you don't." Dean said as he walked out the door.

*****

4:52 p.m.

Sam drove through a ghost town called Sulphurdale and found himself musing over the name. With three large sulphur mines, you'd think that there would be a large demonic presence… he made a note to return at some point and check it out.

Sam stopped the impala by an abandoned mine office building and pulled out his phone.

"Hey, Jo. Just checking in. I should be there in about three hours…"

*****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I tried? Writing confrontations is hard and young Dean was actually less stab happy than old Dean. It's like the show forgot over time that the usual stab victims--demons--were often wearing living people. Maybe it was one of the ways his 4 months/40 years in Hell messed with Dean.  
> **I guess it's only fanon but every story I have seen where Castiel has a birthday celebrates it on the 18th of September, the day when Castiel and Dean first met.
> 
> Next Chapter: Vegas, Baby!

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go again.  
> 1) I own and make nothing. Not even the Empty.  
> 2) I still have no Beta. If anyone is interested…  
> 3) This will be a multi-chaptered fic encompassing season 2 but with characters and plots elements from other seasons due to previous time travel shenanigans.  
> 4) I will update when I can. Comments encourage and inspire me to write faster


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